In October 1999, "Breathe" was released to Country and Pop radio. It spent six weeks at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, seventeen weeks at number one on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart, and one week at number one on the Adult Top 40 chart. The song also reached a peak of #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 for five non-consecutive weeks starting with the week ending April 22, 2000.

Even though "Breathe" never made it to No. 1 on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 chart, it was on the chart for 53 weeks and was thus named the Number One single of 2000 on Billboard's year-end countdown. It was only the second song in the history of the Hot 100 to be named the No. 1 single of the year without making it to the top of the chart on any of the weekly surveys. (The first was "Wooly Bully" by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs in 1965, and the third was "Hanging By A Moment" by Lifehouse in 2001.)

In 2009, the single was named the 27th most successful song of the 2000s, on the Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Decade.[1] The song was released in the UK in May 2000 and reached #33.

"Breathe'"s music video was ranked #4 on CMT's 100 Greatest Videos in 2008.[2] Faith revealed a more sultry side to herself in what would become one of the most controversial videos of her career. The video was shot in the desert and featured scenes of Faith writhing in a bed on the sand, covered only by a sheet.